Increasing revenue through mobile apps

Mobile apps have been big news in 2013 and with the recent influx of low-priced tablets and a continuing increase in smartphone use, they’re set to be even bigger for 2014. They’re a great marketing tool for business, but driving revenue through them can be difficult, particularly for new apps.

Retailers can obviously offer customers an app that means they can shop anytime and anywhere, which can prove to be a significant revenue booster. But those who cannot offer m-commerce or who don’t have the brand recognition that means an app is an instant success, need to find ways to increase the revenue generated.

Push Notifications

Push notifications are the pop-up messages you receive from apps. Whilst there’s no doubt that they can sometimes be a huge irritation, perfecting your timing and targeting can make them a very effective investment.

Alerting you app users to sale previews, special offers or even when new stock is listed, directly to a phones home screen is a powerful means of communication. Even if the offer doesn’t tempt them there and then, the notification acts as a reminder that the app is on their smartphone.

Geo-Targeting

Location-based targeting can work with both push notifications and advertising, providing highly relevant and tailored messages to people in the right location. This is great for retailers who can offer their app users special offers as they pass their bricks and mortar stores in order to encourage footfall. But it can be used by a whole range of different businesses; for example a band could target fans in a particular city where tickets for their next show are soon to become sold-out, restaurants could advertise that they’re ‘just around the corner’ from a users location or businesses could encourage custom based on local events.

Pushing Through the Funnel

Often mobile apps suffer from high bounce rates, this is because customers are using them whilst out and about and may find they don’t have their card details on them or that they simply don’t have the time to fill out three pages of information before making a purchase.

Understanding how and when your app is used and helping customers by pushing them through the funnel will lower bounce rates. Remembering card details, cutting the form-filling down to as little as possible and using GPS services to identify the users location and fill out their address details for them can all save the user time and effort, increasing the chances of a sale.